Cognitive Impairment and Susceptibility to Scams

Minding Memory

For older adults living with dementia, cognitive impairment can lead to susceptibility to fraudulent activities. In this episode we’ll discuss with Dr. Duke Han from the Keck School of Medicine at USC what’s known about the intersection of aging, cognition, and susceptibility to scams.

The transcript for this episode can be found here.

Duke Han PhD Faculty Profile: https://profiles.sc-ctsi.org/duke.han

Additional Information:

The susceptibility to scams scale developed by James, Boyle, & Bennett (2014)* is a 5-item self-report measure in which participants rated their agreement using a 7-point Likert scale (strongly agree to strongly disagree) for the following statements:

• I answer the phone whenever it rings, even if I do not know who is calling.
• I have difficulty ending a phone call, even if the caller is a telemarketer, someone I do not know, or someone I did not wish to call me.
• If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
• Persons over the age of 65 are often targeted by con-artists.
• If a telemarketer calls me, I usually listen to what they have to say.

Resources for older adults (and non-older adults) to report fraud:

U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging: Fraud Hotline | Senate Committee On Aging

Hotline: [phone] (open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Time)

Internet Crime Compliant Center (IC3): https://Ic3.gov/

Federal Trade Commission: Reportfraud.ftc.gov/

*James BD, Boyle PA, Bennett DA. Correlates of susceptibility to scams in older adults without dementia. J Elder Abuse Negl. 2014;26(2):107-122. doi:10.1080/08946566.2013.821809

CAPRA Website: http://capra.med.umich.edu/

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